When using firearms, it is often advantageous for the user to be able to quickly and accurately point the firearm at the target. Many devices assisting in the aiming of a firearm are available, including the classic V-sight, peephole sight, 3-dot sight and similar iron-sight structures, as well as telescopic or optical sights. However, when light conditions are poor such as at night, or in darkened rooms of buildings, a sighting device that relies on ambient light is at a disadvantage. Under such conditions, the target may itself be difficult to acquire visually and to follow if it is moving, and gunsights that are lit only by external light sources are less effective due to the need to see them and align them with the already poorly-perceived target at the time of firing the firearm.
Under poor lighting conditions, self-illuminated gunsights such as tritium sights may be used, but again the effectiveness of such sights depends on the user's ability to align them accurately with a possibly poorly-seen or moving target. This is particularly significant to police and military users of firearms, who in the course of their duties may very likely be confronted with a moving, dangerous target under poor lighting conditions. To accommodate such users, sights have been developed wherein a battery-powered laser is used, the laser having been adjusted to illuminate the point of aim of the firearm. When the laser is turned on by the user of the firearm, it shines light in the direction the bullet will travel when the firearm is fired. Thus, the firearm is aimed merely by directing the laser beam towards the target. The laser beam strikes the target and is reflected back to the user's eye, informing the user exactly where the firearm is aimed and thus what the point of impact of a bullet will be if the firearm is fired.
Various laser gunsight systems have been developed for use with firearms that are equipped with a handgrip, such as handguns, or long guns having a buttstock with a “pistol-grip”. The handgrip of a handgun is grasped by the user's hand or hands when the firearm is being held in the firing position. With a long gun, i.e., a rifle or a shotgun, equipped with a handgrip or pistol-grip, typically the rear or “trigger” hand holds the handgrip while the front hand holds the forestock when the firearm is in the firing position.
Kaminski, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,704,153 and 5,867,930, discloses a firearm battery and control module for a gunsight laser wherein the battery and control circuitry are contained within a housing that fits inside the handgrip of a firearm. The stock handgrip, that is, the handgrip that the firearm is normally provided with by the manufacturer, must be replaced with a specially adapted or custom handgrip containing components of the laser gunsight system to allow this system to be used. Willoughby, U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,309, discloses a laser-aimed weapons system in which a small laser unit is attached to the bottom end of a handgun grip. The switch is incorporated in the laser unit and is largely inaccessible to operation when the firearm is in firing position. Houde-Walter, U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,536, discloses a laser assembly that is mounted on the side of a handgun frame above the trigger, the switch being contained in the unit and typically operated by the user's trigger finger. Teetzel, U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,819, discloses a laser sight that may be used on a handgun, the switch and circuitry for which is located inside modified custom handgrips that replace the stock handgrips supplied with the firearm. Toole et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,600 discloses a laser sight that may be used on a handgun wherein the laser is disposed forward of the trigger guard, a switch is disposed below the trigger guard and a power supply is disposed within the handgrip of the firearm. Toole, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,091, discloses a laser sight disposed at the top of the handgrip rearward of the trigger wherein the power supply and circuitry is contained within a customized handgrip.
However, there is a need for a laser sighting system that may be used with stock firearms, not requiring replacement of handgrips, attachment of special rails, or other modifications. Furthermore, a system that can be readily operated by a user with the firearm in firing position, using only the hand gripping the firearm without requiring movement of the hand from the position normally used when aiming and firing the firearm, would be advantageous. It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser gunsight system for firearms, operable by the user with their hand holding the firearm in firing position, not requiring any significant modification of the firearm to allow for installation of the sighting system.